Researchers are confirming what many have sensed for quite some time — planning meetings are stacked against people of color. And there might be some lessons for bike share professionals in the findings.

Bike share is so much more than a collection of docking stations and bicycles.
Last month, the Better Bike Share Partnership hosted the Better Bike Share Conference in Philadelphia. More than 100 city officials, bike share operators,

More than 100 people came together June 22-24, 2016 for the Better Bike Share Conference in Philadelphia. Here are some highlights, nuggets of wisdom and takeaways, as shared by attendees using the hashtag #bikeshare4all on Twitter.

Fargo's Great Rides is an 11-station, 100-bicycle seasonal system. Its last season saw 143,000 trips and an average of six or seven rides per bike per day—more usage per bike than in New York, Washington DC or Paris.

The Better Bike Share Partnership brought together influential people from five diverse cities that are planning to launch bike share within the next two years: Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles and Memphis.

It takes Abiesolom “Abi” Woldegedreal 45 minutes to an hour on the bus to get from his home in Columbia Heights to the CVS Pharmacy where he works. Luckily, he has a quicker commuting option—Capital Bikeshare.

Portland’s bike share is taking shape. That’s exciting for residents who’ve been waiting almost a decade to get it, and it’s encouraging news for everyone who will benefit from equity initiatives being built into the system.

Philadelphians are curious and excited about trying the city’s new bike share system, and next spring a pilot program will explore whether that excitement is enough to motivate people into learning digital literacy skills.

More than 50 percent of Buffalo CarShare members are people of color, and 50 percent make a household income of less than $25,000 per year. Those are the demographics that equity-focused bike share systems—and other car share services—have only dreamt

Organizers say what youth programming fails to do in terms of direct membership signups, it makes up for tenfold by building indirect awareness and—perhaps most importantly—by establishing goodwill among the community.

The PeopleForBikes Foundation, as part of the Better Bike Share Partnership, will make grants of $25,000 - $75,000 available to collaborations of non-profit community-based organizations, cities, and bike share operators.

Cities can increase users, equity by offering monthly membership and payment options
NACTO releases second paper in “Practitioners’ Paper” series to highlight best practices for cities aiming to address equity issues while introducing or expanding their bike share systems

When the goal is getting people onto bicycles, the best strategy is… getting people onto bicycles. That’s the simple but effective thought process in North Carolina where Charlotte B-Cycle emphasizes group rides as one of its primary forms

In 2011, Boston Bikes, the city agency that owns and oversees Hubway, began offering $5 subsidized Hubway memberships in hopes of making bike share an affordable transportation option for all Bostonians.

Soon after it became clear that U.S. bike-sharing systems were failing to serve most lower-income people, a conventional wisdom emerged: the barrier must be credit cards. Now, a new consensus is changing that assumption.